Text: Luke 18:1-8
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge
18 And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; 3 and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Vindicate me against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen
This parable, for one thing, really is an example of the old sayings “persistence pays off,” and even “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
But the question is: Why was it necessary for that poor widow to be so persistent in the first place? Answering this question makes us focus on that judge.
Obviously, this is a parable, so we’re dealing here with metaphor and with starkly-drawn contrasts; yet even so, both the judge and the widow had real-life equivalents.
The judge, basically, refused to honor the widow’s legitimate and legal request. Why? Was he one of those people who seek important positions, not to do something, but to be something? Where did his obvious callousness come from? Why was it OK for him to act in that way without being replaced?
Today’s lesson is found only in the Gospel of Luke. If we assume that Luke’s narrative is in chronological order, then Jesus told this parable while he was on his way to Jerusalem. We need to bear in mind, then, that this is his final journey – Jerusalem is the end of the road for his earthly ministry and for his earthly life. So Luke’s narrative becomes more and more sharply defined, and increasingly intense.
Jesus’ disciples are getting a little jumpy. Maybe they can see Jerusalem over there in the distance, and they suspect that the next days and weeks are not going to be any fun at all (they’re absolutely right!). They are utterly terrified. This is why they ask Jesus in the lessons of the past few weeks to increase their faith and to teach them to pray. They’re going to need all the prayer and faith they can get in the coming days.
Jesus’ parable, then, takes on a note of reassurance to the disciples – “never lose heart,” he tells them, “no matter what happens.” They were going to encounter many people just like that judge in the very near future, and Jesus wants them to have the tools to deal with them.
That’s an excellent lesson to learn. Or maybe I should say “relearn,” because that judge’s descendants are with us even today. Shakespeare refers to “the law’s delay” in that famous soliloquy from Hamlet, for example.
Another example is the true story that Fr. Mark Link, S.J., tells:
“In 1952 Mother Teresa saw an abandoned woman in the street, literally being eaten by ants and rodents. She carried the woman to a hospital, but it wouldn’t accept her. Next, Mother Teresa carried the woman to city officials, demanding action. A discussion ensued. Then, Mother Teresa demanded a shelter where she could care for the woman and other victims like her. Glad to be rid of the problem, they led Mother Teresa to an abandoned shelter, once used by Hindu pilgrims. Thus began Mother Teresa’s first home for the destitute and the dying.”[1]
Just like the widow in today’s Gospel lesson, Mother Teresa got pushy; she got in the faces of the authorities and those who had the same hardness of heart as that judge in the lesson; she did not take “no” for an answer.
Jesus himself tells us, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you.” He doesn’t say that we should ask only once, or maybe twice, or three times at the outside. Sometimes we need to ask, and ask, and ask again until something happens.
There’s actually an acronym for this: “P.U.S.H.” – “Pray Until Something Happens.” When something is weighing on our hearts, just one prayer may do the trick; but, more likely it will take a bushelful. God hears all of our prayers, including those we pray just once – but prayer is not so much about sending a signal to God as it is a way for you to get centered and focused; about what it does for you and to you. Prayer is not only good for the soul, but it’s good for the heart, it’s good for your blood pressure, it’s good for your psychological well-being. It’s just plain good for you.
David Dykes tells us: “[Jesus’] disciples watched Him, and they said, ‘Lord, teach us how to pray.’ They never said, ‘Teach us how to do miracles, or to teach, or to love people.’ The one thing about His life that was so fascinating that they wanted to imitate Him was His prayer life.”
The lesson states clearly right at the start to always pray and not give up. This is good, because at first glance, it might not seem that the widow’s persistence has anything directly to do with prayer. In fact, the word translated as “bothering” literally means “to poke in the eye.” or “to give a black eye.” Not exactly what we think about when we think of prayer, is, it? Well, the widow’s action is really about the second part – don’t give up – than it is about the first part. But we see that the two parts are, in fact, related.
The theme for today is perseverence. Luke obviously felt that the point of this parable was, not just to pray, but to pray unceasingly, and as Winston Churchill said on the darkest days of World War II, “never give up” and “never lose heart.”
I can certainly imagine that the disciples did sometimes lose heart. Maybe they were tempted to give up on prayer. The fact that they never did throw in the towel, despite everything, really is a testament to their faith and courage, but also to the power of persistent prayer.
But a lot of people have given up on prayer, and not just prayer, but they’ve given up entirely on church and they’ve given up on faith, on their fellow human beings, and even on God. While it may be true that “there are no atheists in foxholes,” it may also be equally true that, for some people, when push comes to shove in their lives, God is the first thing to go.
They’ve given up, maybe because they prayed for a loved one’s miraculous healing, but death came anyway. Even C. S. Lewis, one of the greatest Christian writers who ever lived, gave up at one point in his life. In his book Surprised by Joy, he writes that when Joy, the love of his life, died, his entire universe collapsed into a black hole of sadness, grief, confusion, and despair. Everything he had previously believed and depended on just went up in a puff of smoke. Once when a friend of his tried to console him by saying things he himself had at other times said to others, Lewis just shook his head and said, “no, it won’t do. It just won’t do.” He did, in the end, regain his equilibrium, but he went through a long journey through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Maybe those who have given up have done so because they prayed for an end to extreme trials, but those trials just kept on coming. Still others may have given up because they prayed for an end to the great emptiness and sadness inside them, but they remain feeling just as empty and just as sad as before. Maybe they’ve given up because they’ve prayed for a sense of understanding of a tremendous loss – loss of physical abilities, perhaps, or loss of a relationship that once held so much promise, and are just as much in the dark and are just as confused as when they began. Maybe they’ve given up because they prayed for their children, and yet they’re forced to stand helplessly by as sons and daughters go “off the rails,” and make one bad choice after another.
They give up on prayer, they give up on God, because it looks as though God has given up on them. They echo the last words of Jesus on the Cross, when he quotes the first verse of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?”
We all face trials and tribulations; but these trials are actually the very best argument for sticking to what Jesus taught: To pray, and not to give up. The times when it seems as though our prayers are not being answered are exactly the times when we should “double-down” on our praying. When we’re dealing with God, remember this: Things are never what they seem. “It’s always darkest before the dawn,” as they say.
I wonder sometimes why people almost consider worrying a badge of honor. They tell us all the time about how worried they are, and we’re supposed to nod and agree that whatever they’re worrying about is worth the effort.
William Ward wrote this about worry: “Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster, and belief in defeat…Worry is a magnet that attracts negative circumstances…Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.” Worry is like rocking in a rocking chair–it gives you something to do, but you never go anywhere with it. (quoted in the sermon “P.U.S.H. – Pray Until Something Happens,” by Pastor David Dykes)
Back to Psalm 22. In Jesus’ day, people would quote the first line of a Psalm as a shorthand way of quoting the whole psalm, much in the same was that we today might quote the first line of a favorite poem. So, when Jesus quotes that depressing first verse, he’s actually sounding a note of hope – listen to verses 3 through 5:
3“Yet thou art holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In thee our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 To thee they cried, and were saved;
in thee they trusted, and were not disappointed.”
If you read it to the end, you find that Psalm 22 is a song of praise and confidence in God’s abundance mercy:
But thou, O Lord, be not far off!
O thou my help, hasten to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion,
my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen!
…
For [the Lord] has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted;
and he has not hid his face from him,
but has heard when he cried to him.
…
Posterity shall serve him;
men shall tell of the Lord to the
coming generation;
and proclaim his deliverance to a
people yet unborn,
that he has wrought it.
“In thee they trusted, and were not disappointed.”
In other words: Stick to it. Never give up. Don’t stop praying.
Prayer is an intensely active exercise. It’s been written that Martin Luther used to pray with such energy and intensity that he would break out in a sweat; after a typical prayer session, his clothes would be wringing wet.
That’s the kind of prayer Jesus is talking about. If air is the breath of life for the lungs, then prayer is the breath of life for the soul. Without either of these, we cannot live.
Prayer is a conversation with God. It is a conversation that only seems one-sided. God is always listening.
The Apostle Paul was once stuck in a dank, dark dungeon. He was in imminent danger of losing his head. But, instead of worrying, he prayed. More than that, he wrote letters to Christians all over his world, among them the letter to the Philippians. Here’s a quote from that letter:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
Be bold. Present your requests to God. Because God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So, today, sisters and brothers, like the widow let’s also keep praying – “until something happens.” It might not be the answer we’re looking for, but it will be the right answer.
Never give up! Pray without ceasing!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Link, Mark, SJ, Jesus: A Contemporary Walk with Jesus, Allen, TX, Resources for Christian Living, 1997, p. 392